To Accept, Or Not To Accept? That Is the Question.

Life happens. Go figure.

Not a dull moment today. By that I mean that it was a strange, interesting day. By that I also mean that I am rarely bored. My mother showed me a long time ago that boredom is one of the most temporary feelings in this life. You get that twinge of it and do something about it, because the feeling of being bored simply means you need to change your perception of the situation. We're always, always doing something. Even in the most "boring" moments, we're breathing. And there's nothing boring about breathing. Admittedly, I don't like that word- I don't really think it means anything- and any time one of my kids says, "I'm sooo bored," I say, "You mean you're not doing anything?? Anything at all? But you're talking to me, telling me you're bored...that's something!" They look at me like I'm off my rocker. Inevitably. But they get it by now...they know what I mean, and they laugh, and then they're not bored anymore. Silliness is a great "boredom" squasher.

Well, today was certainly not boring. Not even close.

I can think of at least three things today I would consider far from boring. Some might say they were awful things. Some might say they were stressful. The twinges of those feelings were there, but today was a lesson in acceptance, a non-academic subject I find far more crucial to life than most things we are told to absorb in high school or college. Thank goodness humans aren't graded on the ability to accept life as it happens, because you'd find many a tearful student, unable to accept the grade they'd been given in Acceptance 101.

The few close friends I have are very dear to me for innumerable reasons, but one of them is that they feel the way I inherently feel about life situations- they're just that: situations. And situations are temporary. As are all things, feelings, conversations, moments. All temporary. Is that a negative view of life? Not at all. It is a peaceful view of life, a view in which life is allowed to flow as it is without my resistance to it. Does that mean I am perfectly peaceful in every way? Absolutely not. It does, however, mean that I am aware of the impermanence of all things, and I continually strive to live without resistance to life...and everything that comes with it. I am no Zen master. I am no guru. I definitely get agitated. On a day like today, there were situations around every corner begging me to get sucked in, begging me to fume, begging me to resist.

I say to these temporary situations today, "Ooooohhh...you're good. You put up a really good fight! A year ago, you'd have had me at 'hello', but not today. Nuh uh. I have neither the time on this earth, nor the energy, to give in to your demands. Nice try though. Really! Good game."

Some situations are harder than others to turn from. Some days, the sun goes down and you feel like your ass has been whooped. I know. But do you know without a shadow of a doubt that you're going to wake up tomorrow morning....? Me either. I don't want to go to sleep tonight in a state of resistance, or panic, or anger, or resentment, or tension. No, no. That's no good.

Whatever happened even a moment ago is gone now. It's over.

This week, in particular,  is about health and wellness, and I consider that to be all-encompassing. I feel healthy right now. Right this moment. And that is a priceless feeling.